Investors are sure to differ on the economic policies and record of Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor whom Kamala Harris yesterday picked as her running mate.

• But here's something on which everyone can agree: Walz isn't going to be talking his book.

State of play: Walz doesn't own a single stock, according to financial disclosures and confirmed by a spokesperson. Same goes for his wife Gwen, per tax filings.

• His disclosures, both from his final year in Congress and his time as Minnesota governor, also show no mutual funds, bonds, private equities, or other securities.
• No book deals or speaking fees or crypto or racehorse interests.
• Not even real estate. The couple sold their Mankato, Minnesota, home after moving into the governor's mansion, for below the $315k asking price).

Zoom in: Their only investment assets appear to be via state pensions, including teacher pensions.

The big picture: This lack of investment is highly unusual for elected officials. Particularly high-profile ones vying for federal office.

• It's also reflected in some of what Walz did while in Congress, such as introducing the STOCK Act, which was aimed at curbing insider trading by congresspeople and other federal government employees.
• The STOCK Act was signed into law by former President Obama in 2012, with Walz by his side, although its effectiveness is questionable.
• Walz as governor signed a 1% tax surcharge on capital gains and other annual net investment income over $1 million.

Thought bubble: I'd been selfishly hoping for Harris to select JB Pitzker or Gina Raimondo, so we could have had a VC vs. VC vice presidential debate, but apparently my content needs weren't considered.

Go deeper: For more on Walz's background, please read this piece by Axios Twin Cities reporter Torey Van Oot.

Glencore, the Swiss commodities giant, said that it no longer plans to spin off its coal business.

Why it's the BFD: This reflects how some institutional investors are cooling on ESG, and how coal economics are being boosted by soaring U.S. energy demands.

• Axios Climate Deals reporter Alan Neuhauser adds: "It's not just about electricity generation, but also coal for steelmaking. Plus, coal plants don't require the pipeline infrastructure that natural gas does."

Catch up quick: Glencore just last month completed its $7 billion purchase of a majority stake in the coal unit of Canada's Teck Resources. When the deal was announced last November, Glencore said the plan was to spin out its entire coal business via a NYSE listing within two years — largely due to investor pressure.

The bottom line: The energy transition will be bumpy.

• Seeq, a Seattle provider of industrial analytics and monitoring, raised $50m in Series D funding. Sixth Street Growth led, and was joined by insiders Insight Partners, Altira Group, Second Avenue Partners, and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures. axios.link/3LU5kCp

🚑 Spineology, a St. Paul, Minn., spinal fusion startup, raised $25m led by SV Health Investors, with participation from 1315 Capital and RC Capital. spineology.com

• Andrena, developer of a decentralized physical infrastructure network protocol, raised $18m. Dragonfly led, and was joined by CMT Digital, Castle Island Ventures, Wintermute, 6th Man Ventures, and ParaFi. axios.link/4dyQ3CN

• HouseAmp, a Seattle-based home-financing startup, raised $12.4m Third Prime and Fortress Private Equity. axios.link/3yjawwF

⚡ Branch Energy, a Houston energy retailer that leverages batteries, raised $10.8m in Series A funding co-led by Prelude Ventures and Zero Infinity Partners, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4cfiRiQ

• Wisedocs, a Canadian medical records and insurtech company, raised C$4.5m led by CIBC Innovation Banking. axios.link/3YxZEWa

• MixRift, an Irish mixed-reality gaming startup, raised $1.6m from Outsized Ventures, Underline Ventures, and SOSV. axios.link/3ywWQy6

• DemoSquare, a Swiss AI startup for helping companies anticipate regulatory changes, raised €1.3m led by QBIT Capital. axios.link/4cdjrgR

🚑 ABH Optics, a Copenhagen-based maker of ultra-thin eyeglass lenses, raised €1m led by High-Tech Gründerfonds. axios.link/4fCHhFA

⚡ 3V Infrastructure, an EV charging infrastructure firm, raised up to $40m from Greenbacker Capital. axios.link/46zkRBe

• Analytical Technologies Group, a Providence, R.I., portfolio company of Reynolda Equity Partners, acquired Tritech Field Engineering, an Edgewater, Md., provider of life sciences equipment manufacturing solutions. tritechinc.com

🚑 Bansk Group agreed to buy PetIQ (Nasdaq: PETQ), an Eagle, Idaho-based pet medication and wellness company, for $1.5b, or $31 per share. axios.link/3yqUBMP

• DWS and OMERS agreed to buy Grandi Stazioni Retail, a leasehold on commercial leasing and advertising spaces in 14 large Italian railway stations, from Antin Infrastructure Partners, ICAMAP and Borletti Group. axios.link/3Ah0oVJ

• EQT agreed to buy a majority stake in Acronis, a Swiss data protection and cybersecurity company that previously raised more than $400m from firms like CVC Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs, Delta-V Capital, Insight Partners, and Almaz Capital. axios.link/3WEokts

• KKR agreed to buy a stake in public relations firm FGS Global from WPP Group (LSE: WPP), at a $1.7b enterprise value, expanding KKR's position from minority to majority. axios.link/4cmAGfM

• KKR is launching a $3.4b takeover bid for Fuji Soft (Tokyo: 9749), a Japanese tech group that's been under activist pressure, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3LWzCVd

🌎 Pinchin, a Canadian portfolio company of Keystone Capital Management acquired CodeGreen, a New York provider of sustainability and code compliance solutions for commercial buildings, from Victor Capital. pinchin.com

• SPE Capital acquired OMOA Group, a payments group focused on West and Central Francophone Africa, from Adenia. axios.link/4cjft6i

• TCG acquired a majority stake in Denver-based real estate investment platform BiggerPockets. axios.link/46GIFD9

• Vivace International, a San Antonio-based maker of propulsion tanks for space and defense applications, raised funding from Cerberus Capital Management. vivace.com

⚡ EQV Ventures Acquisition, an energy-focused SPAC formed by EQV Group, raised $350m in its IPO. axios.link/3VxYqZ4

🚑 Civen hired banks to sell Nashville, Tenn.-based wheelchair maker National Seating and Mobility, per PE Hub. axios.link/3YznfG1

• CloudBees, an enterprise software development platform that's raised over $500m, acquired Launchable, a San Jose, Calif.-based QA startup backed by 645 Ventures, GoingVC Partners, Battery Ventures, and Unusual Ventures. cloudbees.com

🌎 Thoma Bravo hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of Cority, a Toronto-based sustainability compliance software provider that could fetch around US$2b (including debt), per Reuters. axios.link/3ykX63g

🚑 Orlando Health, a Florida nonprofit health system, will pay $910m to buy Tenet Healthcare's (NYSE: THC) 70% stake in Birmingham, Ala.-based Brookwood Baptist Health, comprising five hospitals. axios.link/3SDizuY

🚑 Roche (Swiss: ROG) is weighing a sale of Flatiron Health, a New York cancer data firm it bought in 2018 for $1.9b, per the FT. axios.link/3WTLUnt

• Stonepeak raised $3.15b for an opportunities fund focused on midmarket infrastructure deals. stonepeak.com

🚑 TPG closed a life sciences innovations fund at $580m, with a portion of commitments coming from its Rise Fund. tpg.com

• Vista Equity Partners is winding down its hedge fund and related feeder funds, citing a "structural shift" toward private assets, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3WEHCPw

• Dona Abboud joined Sagard as a Dubai-based senior manager of capital formation. She previously was with Columbia Threadneedle Investments. axios.link/3YuD3tK

• Satya Bajpai joined BTIG as a managing director of tech investment banking. He previously was with Citizens JMP Securities. axios.link/4fxZynG

• Logan Green, co-founder and board chairman of Lyft, joined Autotech Ventures as a venture partner. axios.link/46DxUkU

• Dori Konig joined TSG Consumer Partners as head of its portfolio operations group. He previously was with Platinum Equity. axios.link/3WSFeWC

🚑 Raj Panjabi, former White House senior director for global health security, joined Flagship Pioneering to lead its preemptive health and medicine initiative. axios.link/3WRKaev

SoftBank announced plans to buy back up to $3.4 billion in stock, or 6.8% of its outstanding shares.

• The Japanese investment firm has seen its stock pummeled so far this month, and continues to be under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management (which had been pushing for a larger buyback).
• In terms of its Vision Funds portfolio, SoftBank saw overall improvement during the quarter ending June 30, although the cumulative paper value continues to be negative.
• The biggest quarterly gains for Vision Funds came from Coupang on the public side and ByteDance on the private side, while public losses were generated by AutoStore and private losses by "rerating of public fintech and SaaS multiples."